Fallout: Harmony and Steel

Chapter Two: Have You Ever Seen... A Tree?

May 29th, 2279

Journal of Knight Isaac Ward

Trees... A whole forests worth of trees. I have never seen anything like this before and I've even been to Oasis. These trees were nothing like the burnt out husks that made up the Capital Wastelands trees or the mutated trees that made up Oasis. These trees looked healthy and organic. It looks like something straight out of a pre war children's book. Duty drove me to explore the forest deeper, something in my head told me that there would be something in there and I had every intention to find out what it was.

I had only been in this forest for an hour and I felt completely out of place. I had never even seen a forest like this, frankly I thought in the irradiated wasteland, a place like this would be impossible. My external speakers were picking up many sounds of birds tweeting and branches swaying in the wind. My laser rifle was kept firm in my grip. I had no idea what to expect in a forest like this but I knew a forest like this would have predators and if they were anything like the ones back out in the wasteland, I was in for a hell of a fight if I encountered one. My walk through the woods mostly consisted of me over reacting to a sound or stepping over the logs of fallen trees, but mostly my walk though these strange woods was remaining quiet. For now.

While this forest as a miracle in itself, it wasn't comforting in the slightest. The forest was dark and damp, any of the shadows could easily hide a predator. I kept an eye on my HUD's compass for any lifeforms that were detected. None so far apart from the occasional bird flying over my head. A snapping twig brought me out of my musings and I brought my rifle to bear. I checked my compass and noticed that a single mark had been added to the east. I spun around and aimed my rifle at the large log that faced east. My finger was over the trigger waiting for what ever horror this forest had in store for me. I nearly vaporised the small squirrel that turned out to be my unknown contact.

I almost did a double take at the squirrel, who seemed to be eyeing me curiously. It was completely un-mutated. This surprised me greatly, as I thought any species of animal that somehow survived the Great War would be horribly mutated by now. But this squirrel looked like it had been taken straight from a pre war wildlife book.

"Go one little guy," I said to it, "Get out of here."

To my surprise the squirrel turned around and bolted back into the undergrowth. My musing that it had actually understood me was swept from under me as something picked me up by the side and threw me across the undergrowth. I tumbled into a bush and looked at my attacker, expecting a Yao Guai or something similar. To my surprise I was staring face to face with a huge wolf. But this wolf was very different. It seemed to be completely made of tree branches and loose foliage. Before I could even utter my surprise, it howled and charged me. Without a second thought I fired off two shots from my rifle, one of them connecting with the creatures leg. The laser burned straight through its leg, causing a few stray twigs to fall off. The beast howled in pain, but it did not hinder its charge. The wolf snapped its jaw onto my bracer, knocking my rifle to the side. I felt the pressure from the jaw even through my armor. What I did not feel however, was the wooden stakes it had for teeth, as they splintered and cracked as they made contact with my armor. The wolf howled in pain and reeled back and I took this opportunity to draw my laser pistol. I pointed the barrel straight into its mouth and fired off several shots. The laser easily pierced the wolfs wooden skull and it fell to the ground dead. It then completely broke down into loose twigs and branches as it died.

I took a second to catch my breath and collect my thoughts.

"What on earth was that?" I asked no one in particular.

Looking over what was left of the wooden wolf, I couldn't spot any organs, blood or any other vital life essences amongst the pile of foliage. That shouldn't be possible. No creature made of wood could possibly exist. Yet here it lied in front of me. I even began to question if this forest had some unknown toxin that in the air that caused hallucinations. Deciding to think over it later, I continued into the forest, questions still buzzing around my head.

I continued into the forest for another hour, my encounter with the wooden wolf still fresh in my head, until my external speakers finally picked up something familiar. Talking.

I kept low and made my way to where it was coming from. I looked in-between the trees, safely hidden from any eyes, and looked down into the clearing below. It was a camp, with a good twenty people inhabiting it. I made to contact the people when I noticed the disemboweled or dismembered bodies strung up on the tree branches that overhung the camp. This was a raider camp. I kept quiet and drew my rifle to observed them down the scope. They didn't seem to be doing anything sinister, they were just eating and talking amongst themselves. Normally, an encounter with raiders is followed by firefight to preserve my own life, but it was different to see them actually talking and socialising normally. It made them seem actually human.

The raiders seemed to be even more primitive than their wasteland counterparts, only three of them having guns and even those guns were in terrible condition. The others carried makeshift weapons that looked to be made from tree branches and the remains of animals. The clothes they wore were looked even more primitive, on top of the dirty rags they wore, they seemed to have adapted the tree bark into some sort of armor, even the one who I had assumed was the leader was wearing the top half of a wooden wolfs skull over his shoulder. I continued to observe them and I thought that I had better not waste the ammunition dealing with these people and I should move on. Just as I started to turn my gaze away, something caught my eye.

A woman, locked inside a makeshift wooden cage, sobbing into her very long pink hair.

I looked back through my scope at the woman. From her cuts and bruises, I could tell the raiders had beaten her. Aside from all the bruises and gashes on her face, she was rather pretty. Her long pink hair suggested to me that she was nothing more than a tribal, but her clothes told a different story. If I ignored the tears and dirt in the fabric, I could see that the pale yellow sweater she was wearing was recently sewn together. She was obviously a civilised person.

This gave me pause on how I should proceed. My rational side told me I should leave her to her fate, preserve ammunition and continue my mission, however, the more passionate side of me told me that I was more than likely the only chance she had at freedom. I sighed to myself, knowing that if I left her, she would more than likely be killed or worse by the raiders. I had to help. I knew in my gut that Elder Lyons would have me help her.

With my newfound charge of helping this woman, I drew my attention back to the raiders, my rifle pointed at the leaders head. Before I could fire I heard a scream. I drew my attention back to the girl. One of the nastier looking raiders had her by the hair and was dragging her into the middle of the camp.

"You ready to have some fun, little girl?" He grinned evilly.

My speakers couldn't even make out the whimper of mercy that the girl made. This only seemed to entertain him.

"Look at this bitch, look at her snivel!" He cackled.

Anger flared up inside me and I lined my scope up to his head.

"It's go time, bitch!" He raised his hand to her and she cowered closer to the ground.

Crack!

The energetic sound of laser filled the air as my target flashed a bright crimson before disintegrating into nothing but a pile of ash.

"What the fuck!?" Another shouted.

Crack!

Another fell, suffering the same fate as his comrade.

"What the fuck is this!?" The leader shouted.

Crack!

The leader fell screaming, clutching his shoulder, the wooden armor proving useless against the laser as it burned through it and his body.

"It's in the trees somewhere!" Another shouted, picking up his nasty looking club.

I stayed safe in my unknown position and continued to pick them off one by one, all of them dropping like flies as the laser hit them. The woman seemed even more scared then before as she was now cowering back in her cage. The raiders were panicking now, being stricken down by an unknown weapon by an unknown adversary. Many had just fled into the woods. One remained, apparently too scared to even run, he clutched his tree branch in his shaking hands. I decided now was a good time to come down.

As I emerged from the tree line I could see the raiders reaction, his features filled with dread as he first saw the outline of my power armor, as if he had just seen the reaper himself. I marched directly to him and he shook more and more with each step I took closer to him. We were a mere three feet apart when I finally stopped. I stared him down through my helmet, seething with rage.

"Run." I said coldly.

He didn't need to be told twice, as he dropped his club and bolted the moment I uttered that word.

I turned my attention to the cowering girl, who seemed to be staring in awe at me. I holstered my weapon and made my way towards her, trying to appear as non threatening as possible. This did not work as she just crawled deeper into her prison.

"It's alright," I said, a bit more forcefully than I had intended, "I'm not going to hurt you."

This seemed to work in a way as she had now returned her gaze to the eye slits of my helmet. She was still visibly terrified and traumatised by the whole ordeal. This wasn't working. I took both my hands to my helmet and an audible click was heard as I began to remove it. My messy brown hair flowed freely as my helmet was removed.

"My names Isaac." I smiled to her, my voice appearing less robotic now that my helmet was removed, "What's your name?"

I extended my hand to her to help her up. She visibly flinched at the movement. I left my hand lingering to show I meant no harm. Her aqua coloured eyes looked to my hand and then to my face. I smiled again, trying to win her trust. She took my hand gingerly and rose to her feet slowly. She then mumbled something inaudibly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear that." I said to her.

She mumbled a bit louder but it was still inaudible.

"I'm sorry, what was that? I asked again, with a smile.

"M-my names F-Fluttershy." She said, not quite making eye contact with me.